Balaji Telefilms announced its financial results for the second quarter and six-months ended 30th September 2022. During the three months of this quarter, we had a robust pipeline of 8 shows on air across 4 leading broadcasters. TV business produced 275 hours of production in Q2 FY23 against 189 hours in Q2 FY22. 2 new exciting shows across varied genres have been lined up and are currently under production. The business contributed to extremely healthy margins during H1 FY23 and will continue to be volume led. Current quarter realisation at ₹ 30.37 lacs per hour is 9% higher than corresponding previous quarter. Our shows have often been regarded as channel drivers for our broadcasters as they have been consistently well received by audiences.
ALTBalaji’s direct subscription revenue stood at ₹ 5 cr in Q2 FY23 and the business is expected to retain the momentum as per current run rates for the balance 6 months considering a strong content library in place with 93 shows and 18 movies which includes multiple seasons of hit shows. ‘Apharan 2’ and ‘Code M S2’ were launched in Q1 and Q2 respectively and both shows have been well received. The Company sold 6.1 lakh subscriptions (including 3.2 lakh renewals) during six months ending 30th September 2022. This excludes subscribers on partner apps where the content continues to do well. Currently, the engagement time stands at 53+ mins, with watch time at 16.4 billion in minutes. Video views stand at 1.4 billion cumulative till date.
We had two theatrical releases in Q2 FY23. Our first release for the year, ‘Ek Villain Returns’ starring John Abraham and Arjun Kapoor released on 29th July to positive reviews and garnered a strong box office collection. Our subsequent theatrical release, ‘Dobaaraa’ starring Taapsee Pannu in August received widespread critical acclaim on account of its niche concept. We also released ‘Goodbye’ starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Mandanna in October to positive reviews. We have 3 more movies lined up for release in FY23 wherein we have pre-locked exciting revenue deals, thereby de-risking our movie business segment significantly. The pipeline includes ‘Freddy’ starring the nation’s current heartthrob Kartik Aryan which has already been blocked for direct to digital release starting 2nd December on Disney+ Hotstar and also includes ‘Kathal’ starring Sanya Malhotra which is also headed for a direct to digital release on Netflix.
Shobha Kapoor, Managing Director, Balaji Telefilms Limited said, “Our TV business continues to perform well in terms of production hours and we hope to improve this momentum as 2 new shows would be added to our robust pipeline of 8 shows that we currently have on air across channels and genres that will enable us to achieve volume growth. As always, we are confident that our content will strike a chord with audiences as our storytelling is backed by strong creative capabilities which drives our business growth and allows our brand to flourish in this domain. We are also extremely elated that after a gap of almost two and half years, we had our first theatrical release in July this year. ‘Ek Villain Returns’ headlined by a strong star cast received positive audience reviews which was also reflected in its box office collection.
Our subsequent theatrical release ‘Dobaaraa’ starring Taapsee Pannu garnered a great critical response and was trending at the number 1 spot on Netflix upon its release on OTT subsequently. It continued to dominate the OTT space by consistently featuring in the top ten category for multiple weeks which demonstrates our strong content capabilities yet again. Additionally, we have a robust pipeline of 3 more movies to be released this year and are confident that these will exceed expectations and take our brand a notch higher. We continue to have strong controls on the cash spend while driving overall profitability including some strong strategic content sharing deals which allows us to further our growth”.
OPERATIONAL and FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
TV business continued at normal in this quarter with 275 hours of production across 8 shows and a strong pipeline with two more exciting shows which are currently under production. The business will continue to be volume led ALTBalaji total subscriptions sold in H1 FY23 were 6.1 lakh. Direct subscription revenues stood at Rs 5cr in Q2 FY23 cr. After a gap of more than two and half years, we had our first theatrical release of the year in July. ‘Ek Villain Returns’ headlined by a strong star cast received positive audience reviews which was also reflected in its box office collection. ‘Dobaaraa’, starring Taapsee Pannu and ‘Goodbye’ starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Mandanna, released on 19th August and 7th October respectively and received widespread critical acclaim by audiences. Dobaaraa trended at No. 1 spot, subsequently on Netflix upon its release on OTT.. Current pipeline includes 3 more exciting projects with some of the leading talent of our country. This includes ‘Freddy’ starring the nation’s current heartthrob, Kartik Aryan, and has already been blocked for direct to digital release starting 2nd December on Disney+ Hotstar as well as ‘Kathal’ starring Sanya Malhotra which is also headed for a direct to digital release on Netflix.
Overall financial performance for the six months Group revenues at Rs 283 cr in H1 FY23 vs Rs 142 crores in H1 FY22, Group EBITDA loss at Rs 35 cr in H1 FY23 vs Rs 69 crores in H1 FY22
